Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Will the Government support an independent Crimea if its people vote for that in a referendum, because presumably the Government will support an independent Scotland if its people choose to be independent?

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague): Here in this House and in the United Kingdom we believe in freedom, democracy and self-determination around the world, but my right hon. Friend will recall that the referendum in Scotland is taking place with the agreement of this House and of the Government of the United Kingdom as a whole. Under the Ukrainian constitution, that would be the proper arrangement in Crimea as well.

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2 Comments

“Here in this House and in the United Kingdom we believe in freedom, democracy and self-determination around the world”…. just not for the English it seems. We want our referendum and now, not in some far distant future. Thank you.

How can you possibly compare the proposed referendum in Crimea with the Scottish referendum? The former is being undertaken at the point of a gun without the consent of the Ukraine as a whole. The latter will be undertaken democratically with the full knowledge and consent of the UK government.

What were your motives for asking this question?

Reply The referendum and how the west and Russia respond to it will be central to how the next phase of this crisis unfolds. Of course the Crimea referendum is illegal under Ukrainian law whereas the UK has agreed to the Scottish one, and of course the Crimea referendum may not be well conducted despite the full engagement of the Crimea government. However, it is going to happen, and its result may be both illegal but also representative of Crimea opinion. I like you would rather things were settled legally – which means the proper election of a new President for the whole of the Ukraine, and a legal referendum for the future of the Crimea granted by the Ukrainian as well as the Crimea Parliament.

About John Redwood

John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, He graduated from Magdalen College Oxford, has a DPhil and is a fellow of All Souls College. A businessman by background, he has been a director of NM Rothschild merchant bank and chairman of a quoted industrial PLC.